


The Pain of Leadership

by haruka



Category: Samurai Sentai Shinkenger
Genre: Caning, Discipline, Punishment, samurai sentai shinkenger - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-05-24
Updated: 2009-05-24
Packaged: 2018-02-17 10:25:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2306336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haruka/pseuds/haruka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Takeru makes a difficult decision after Ryunosuke lets them down.</p>
<p>Contains caning scene, do not read if this bothers you.  Written by request for iceshade and geebaby757, and my wife Michiru, who all wanted to see Takeru spanking his vassals.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Pain of Leadership

The Pain of Leadership (Samurai Sentai Shinkenger)

By Haruka (haruka@ymail.com)

\--

Earlier this week, Jii had to leave us alone for a few days. We still had the Kuroko, but as for a real adult presence, there was none. I didn't foresee any problems, though. We would go to school, fight Gedoushu, and go about our usual business.

Leave it to Ryunosuke to throw us an unexpected turn.

It was early evening, and we were getting ready for a practice session. I hadn't seen Ryunosuke for a while, but didn't have any doubts that he would show up. It was like expecting the sun to rise the next morning – inevitable.

Except this time, it didn't. When we were all gathered to begin practice, Ryunosuke still wasn't there. I ordered the Kuroko to search the grounds, and they came back shaking their heads.

"Where the heck can he be?" Chiaki wondered out loud. "He's the one that gets on my back whenever I'M late!"

"He didn't say anything to any of you about going out?" I asked.

They all shook their heads. I pursed my lips in frustration, but wasn't going to delay practice any longer. Ryunosuke would have to explain himself later.

"All right, let's begin –" before I could finish, we all heard the distinctive bell-jingle of our Gedoushu alarm. We looked at each other in realization and I quickly brought out my Shodophone to call Ryunosuke. It went to voicemail. VOICEMAIL! I didn't even know the Shodophone HAD voicemail because when it rang, we always answered, no matter what!

I slapped it closed. "We're going without him. Come on."

It wasn't an easy battle. The Gedoushu was fire-based, so having Ryunosuke's Water Arrow would've been a big help. As it was, Kotoha had to bury the thing to put it out. The Gedoushu have a second life, and for that one we were nearly defeated. We couldn't form ShinkenOh properly without Ryunosuke, so we had to rely on the giant forms of our origami individually. Again, the dragon origami with the water power was missing, so it took three times as long to beat the giant Gedoushu into the ground.

We returned to the house exhausted, bruised, and bleeding, but alive. Ryunosuke still wasn't there. Mako tried to call him, but it went to voicemail again.

"I'm worried.” Kotoha was wringing her hands. "Ryuu-san might be in trouble."

"If he isn't, he soon will be," Mako predicted, folding her arms.

"I'm with Kotoha," Chiaki said. "There's gotta be something wrong. Ryunosuke wouldn't --"

The door opened and Ryunosuke came in. He met my eyes and then lowered his. Guilt was written all over his body language.

"Ryuu-san, are you okay?" Kotoha asked in concern.

"Yes," he answered without looking up.

"Where were you?" I asked icily. "And why was your Shodophone going to voicemail?"

"I - I had it turned off," he said quietly.

"Why would you do that?" Mako asked in disbelief.

Ryunosuke stared at the ground. "I went to a show. I had to turn off my Shodophone as a courtesy."

"Seeing a movie? While we were fighting a Gedoushu?" Chiaki shook his head. "And you called ME irresponsible."

"I heard about the Gedoushu when I came out of the theatre," he said apologetically. "But it wasn't a movie I was seeing -- it was a live show." He finally looked up, his eyes sparkling with the memory. "It was Saotome Taichi. I've always wanted to see him perform -- his onnagata is perfection itself."

That explained it. The only thing that Ryunosuke is as passionate about as being a Shinkenger is Kabuki, and we all knew how he was missing it. The temptation had finally proven too great and he'd chosen pleasure over duty.

"Tono," Ryunosuke said softly, "could we speak alone, in my room? There's something there I must give to you."

I nodded and followed him, giving the others a warning look when it looked like they might trail after us.

Once I was in his room and he’d slid the door shut, I watched as Ryunosuke went to his bag – the one he’d used when moving in. I hadn’t known there was anything left in it, since he was fastidious about putting things away in their proper place.

“When I was preparing to come here,” he said, his back still to me as he rummaged through the bag, “my father had a lot of advice for me. You already know how he wasn’t just my father, but my Master in Kabuki, so I obeyed him in all things. One of the things I was taught was that I must always accept responsibility for my actions and do my best to atone for them. He gave me something to bring with me just in case it was needed, and I think now it is.” He stood up and approached me, then dropped to one knee and held out his hands. Laying across them was a long, straight, rattan rod. It was about thirty inches long and maybe a quarter of an inch thick. I knew what it was; a cane, but I had never seen one in person before.

“Tono,” Ryunosuke begged, his head lowered in subjugation, “please punish me.”

I opened my mouth to protest. I was only one year older than he was, and had never raised a hand to anyone except in sword practice or battle. But then I thought about it. Jii wasn’t there, and even when he was there, _I_ was head of the Shiba Clan, and this was one of my vassals. He had knowingly broken some serious rules and needed to pay for that, and pay dearly. He not only accepted the consequences, he WANTED them. How would it look to him if I refused? How would it look to the others, who were bound to find out?

How would it look to me, when I faced myself in the mirror? Was I their Lord or not? If I was, that meant that along with accepting their bows of respect, I had to make unpleasant, but necessary, decisions. I took the cane from Ryunosuke’s outstretched palms and he looked up at me gratefully.

“Prepare yourself,” I told him, partly because it sounded good, and partly because I figured he knew better what was involved in this. To my dismay, he started to unfasten his pants. I had to do this on his bare skin? I couldn’t ask if this was really necessary; clearly, he believed that it was.

He turned and braced his hands against the wall, leaning over. I gripped the cane tightly, uncertain how many strokes I was supposed to administer. I didn’t have any experience on either end of this thing.

As if he could read my mind, Ryunosuke said in a quiet voice, “Six cuts are typical; four for lesser offences, eight for worse. Anything over twelve is –“

“Silence!” I barked at him, and he winced. I hadn’t meant to sound harsh, but it bothered me how much he knew about this, and how little I did. It also made me think things about his homelife I didn’t want to consider. And ‘cuts’?! Who made up that horrible word for it? I hoped that it wasn’t indicative of the condition of his skin once we were through.

Speaking of which, I couldn’t put this off any longer or he would sense my discomfort, and I didn’t want that. I drew back the cane and swung it toward his defenceless bottom.

The sound of contact was sharp, and was echoed by Ryunosuke’s intake of breath. I was relieved to see that the cane had not actually cut him, although it left an obvious red horizontal line. I realized I’d have to be careful with my aim and not cross lines over each other. The last thing I wanted was to draw blood. I struck him again, and another red line appeared just below the first.

The third lash was the first time he made noise; just a soft little grunt, but the way his buttocks were squeezing together and the muscles in his back and thighs were tensing, I knew he was hurting. Was I supposed to feel sorry for him? I don’t know, but I couldn’t. I kept thinking about how our battle with the Gedoushu was unnecessarily prolonged by his absence, and more lives could have been lost, including our own. I landed the fourth blow of the cane with a crack.

“AHHH!” Ryunosuke cried out loud. That last line was an even darker red than the others, but fortunately hadn’t crossed over them. I mentally chastised myself for striking him at the height of my anger. I wanted to punish him, not damage him. I was running out of room on his backside to place the stripes but there was space for one more and I landed it sharply. Ryunosuke didn’t make an outcry that time; he had bitten down on his lip instead, groaning and squeezing his eyes shut.

If six was the norm, that’s what I had decided I would do. Without having left space enough on his bottom for the last blow, I aimed instead for the very top of the thighs. He’d be feeling that one every time he sat for the next twenty-four hours at least.

Ryunosuke had broken position after the last lash, with his forearms and forehead all pressed against the wall now. I put the cane aside. “We’re done,” I told him.

Slowly and painfully, he got dressed again. Then, despite the way his skin had to be protesting, he lowered himself to his knees and bowed his head. “Thank you, Tono.”

“We won’t speak of this again,” I told him. “But I caution you, Ryunosuke, not to repeat this incident. If twelve ‘cuts’ are the limit, that might very well be the result of a second session if you do. Understand?”

“Yes,” he said firmly, raising his eyes. They were moist, and there were drying tear-stains on his face. “It won’t ever happen again, Tono, I swear it.”

“Good. You may rest here for the remainder of the night.” For a moment, looking into his earnest brown eyes, so desperate to please me, I almost petted his hair like he was a puppy. Luckily, I kept that urge in check, and settled for giving him a reassuring nod. “You’re forgiven, Ryunosuke. Tomorrow things will be as they were before.”

His smile of relief made me feel better as well. “Thank you, Tono! Goodnight!”

I left then, nearly tripping over the others, who had all crowded around the outside of the door. Probably they’d slid it open just enough to watch the whole thing. Kotoha looked as if she’d been crying, Chiaki was pale, and Mako was probably bursting at the seams to go in and crush Ryunosuke in a hug. They were all staring at me.

“Goodnight,” I said to them, and walked away, leaving them with their unspoken accusations, fears, or demanding questions. This hadn’t been painless for me, either, but no one ever said that leadership would be easy.

\--

(2009)

Samurai Sentai Shinkenger belongs to Toei

This fic is not to be re-posted.


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